40 BOOKS A MONTH // 480 BOOKS A YEAR

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller is one educational book I read over the summer that struck a right chord with me. Miller’s BIG goal was to plant the love of reading with her students by, well, READING! One avenue to achieve that goal was encouraging her students to read a total of 40 books per year. To ensure student success, she allowed them to choose their own books from a high-interest classroom library; carved extra reading time, and she modeled authentic reading behavior. By the end of the year, both her struggling readers and fluent were reading for enjoyment.

That’s my goal of teaching reading - to encourage a healthy reading life where they read for enjoyment AND knowledge. Then applying what they learn into making their community, their society, their world, a better place.

Of course, we all gotta start somewhere. And that’s where I fit in. I teach little ones HOW to read. And even though the majority of my class CAN’T read, that won’t stop us from meeting our 40 books a month challenge, 480 books a year. So to encourage our reading challenge, I’ve created a book log for our classroom. Everytime we read aloud a book, we color an object in. If you’d like to join in on our 40 books a month, 480 books a year, challenge, click here to download a free book log printable and start tracking your books. It’s a win-win for all of us!